The Perceptions and Attitudes on Domestic Violence of the Social Network Members in Northeastern Thailand

Abstract

Domestic violence is a crucial problem worldwide, including in Thailand. Community members play key roles in tackling and reducing household abuse in their communities. Thus, their perceptions and attitudes towards it are crucial for initiating community-based programs or activities. This study aims to survey the perceptions and attitudes on domestic violence among Northeastern stakeholders. A stratified random sample of 449 was selected based on the statistics of violence cases per household in the Esan provinces. Four provinces with 24 sub-districts were included to distribute questionnaires representing this region of Thailand. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed, analyzed, and encoded using the SPSS program for Windows. The results showed that community members in Northeastern Thailand believe that psychological abuse, in particular, is more common than physical or sexual abuse, and any other forms of violence. However, they do not usually hear about it directly from victims; instead, they learn about it from neighbors and internet sources. It is interesting to note that patronage and patriarchal cultures do not seem to be the key significance (insignificantly as p >.05) but the efficiency of these networks differs from province to province. Social roles or positions and gender within the network impact how people learn about and deal with domestic abuse. Improving law enforcement among network members, addressing economic hardship on people, coping with community resource shortages, employing virtual channels for operating and raising awareness, and training targeted community members are the main recommendations to reduce and prevent violence more sustainably and effectively.